


Kind

by Leonardo_Charles_BlueWood_21



Category: The LEGO Ninjago Movie (2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I literally have no idea how to tag this lskdafmasd, I wish you the best of luck in you read, Kindness, Lloyd is a literal angel oh my gods, No beta we die like Garmadon, Oof how do I even tag this?? salkdfmasdf, PLATONIC LOVE AND CARE IS MY JAM THANKS, Platonic Relationships, So I took a break from my multi chapter to write this and get it out of my system, Someone give this kid a cookie and a hug, This idea whacked me upside the head and wouldn't leave me alone, This is unedited trash and I LOVE IT DSFLMAWOIFASD, let me know if y'all have any tags you think I should use cause I am at a literal loss for this xD, of a sort, questionable characterization
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-30
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:01:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26722576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leonardo_Charles_BlueWood_21/pseuds/Leonardo_Charles_BlueWood_21
Summary: The words that others think about another are written across the person's skin. Everyone has them, words tattooed across every part of them. They fade over time, depending on the amount of emotion that went into thinking the word, they're darker if there is more behind the thoughts. Some have more words than others, but Lloyd's always had a lot, more than most, he thinks. None of them really good. While a lot of people will have a variety of kind and cruel words, his have never really involved anything positive due to his father's constant attacks on Ninjago.OrLloyd sees someone having a rough day like he is and decides to do something about it. Doing something kind for others can help both them and you.
Relationships: Lloyd Garmadon & Ninja Team
Comments: 59
Kudos: 182





	Kind

**Author's Note:**

> EDIT: Finally found the source so! Concept inspired by @illuminosity on Tumblr/this post
> 
> https://illuminosity.tumblr.com/post/143407074249/concept-every-word-thats-thought-about-you

Lloyd tugged down on his sweater sleeves to cover the dark words that littered his wrists and hands as he walked into the school. The hostile looks directed towards him seemed to be burning holes into the back of his head. 

He kept his eyes down and his hood up to block their views of his face and the words littered there as well. He could already feel the more aggressive thoughts writing themselves into his skin over the faded ones from the week before. 

He trudged forward, footsteps quiet, one foot in front of the other, traveling down the hallway to his locker. 

He ignored the words written over the surface of his locker in permanent markers and spray paint and opened it, clearing out the garbage before putting his books inside. Every time he reached up his sleeves would slip down and expose the words _evil, bad, despicable._ He stood at his locker for a moment, arms hanging limply by his sides, the book he’d been about to slip inside held in his hand loosely. 

_Their words do not make you who you are,_ his mom’s voice spoke softly in his mind. _You are wonderful, Lloyd, and I love you._

He rubbed his thumb against the word _loved_ that was always wrapped around his index finger like a ring. His mom made sure that it was always there and no amount of words from others could ever cover the bold but quiet lettering from her. He wished it was enough, but it was sometimes easy to forget the small word in the wake of the bigger, crueler ones twisting around his arm and carved into his back. He loved his mom, but having the word _evil_ waiting for you on your forehead whenever you looked in the mirror tended to get to you after a while. 

He slipped his history book into his locker and pushed it shut, leaning most of his weight against it to get it to close properly. 

He padded quietly to his first class, keeping his eyes on the ground as he walked, the crowd parting for him, glares following him as he went. Every step felt like a battle when all he wanted to do was curl up and stop existing. 

He was so tired. 

The moment he was in class he folded his arms atop his desk and let his head rest atop them, listening to the teacher as they started the lesson, trying to focus through the intense wave of apathy that was clinging to him. 

Most of the day passed like that; walking through the school, like every part of him was weighed down by the endless stream of words crowding his skin, each new one plastering itself to him and making it a little harder to breathe. 

~~_Criminal._ ~~

_Loved._

~~_Suspicious._ ~~

_Loved._

_~~Destructive.~~ _

_Loved._

~~_Waste._ ~~

~~_Rotten._ ~~

~~_Awful._ ~~

~~_Looser._ ~~

_Evil_ , he thought without bothering to look down at the light tingling feeling on his wrist. 

He was so tired. 

Snickers caught his attention on his way to his last class, and he glanced up blankly from under his hood to see a group walking past. They weren’t looking at him oddly enough and he would have kept walking if they hadn’t moved past to reveal the object of their mean laughter. His steps faltered a little and he found himself standing on the other side of the hallway as the crowd thinned out, staring. 

The boy’s eyes were fastened to the ground, brows furrowed and sinking in on himself, the bottom half of his face tucked into the scarf that was wrapped around his neck. He… looked a lot like how Lloyd felt. The boy gripped his sweater sleeve, almost hugging himself and looked a lot like he might start crying as the snickers faded out and the group walked away. 

_Ugly_ , Lloyd saw written across his freckles and his heart gave a painful squeeze. When the boy looked up to finish taking his things out of his locker he caught a glimpse of the word _annoying_ tattooed across his firmly shut mouth. 

His feet were rooted to the floor. 

He glanced down at his palm, _dangerous_ etched into the skin there and curled his hand into a tight fist. 

No. 

Determination cut through his apathy for a moment and he glared intently at the boys freckles and though _cute, cute, cute, cute, cute, cute._

He only stopped once the boy had walked away and slipped into a classroom. 

He lingered in the hallway for a moment, feeling oddly lost. Whatever feeling that had overcome him had left and his chest seemed even emptier than before. He wasn’t sure what the point of that had been; didn’t even know if it would help at all. 

He hesitated for a moment before letting his shoulders slump and headed to his class through the, now empty, hallway. 

  
  
  


____________

  
  
  
  


He wasn’t quite able to stop thinking about the boy for the rest of the day. 

  
  


_____________

  
  
  
  


Lloyd found himself looking for him when he entered the school. Ignoring the glares was a little hard when he wasn’t staring down at the tiles on the floor, but he managed and eventually did spot him in the hallway. 

The boy was at his locker and paused what he was doing every couple of seconds to touch his face. 

Lloyd scooted through the hallway, weaving through the crowd until he could actually see his face and his heart jumped a little when he glimpsed the words _cute, cute, cute cute_ drowning out the faded _ugly_ from the day before. 

Good. A small sense of accomplishment settled in him as the boy touched his words, brows furrowed a little but eyes a little lighter. 

He let himself continue to his class, steps a little lighter. 

  
  


________________

  
  
  


Lloyd wasn’t looking for him exactly… at least not on purpose, but his eyes landed on him during a quiz and then he couldn’t stop noticing him. 

He watched him finish his quiz quickly but wait in his seat until half the class had gotten up to hand theirs in before getting up himself and timidly handing the teacher his own papers. He then trekked back to his seat and sat down hunching in on himself, hiding his face in his scarf, but not before Lloyd caught sight of the faded, but still very much present _annoying_ across his mouth. 

Lloyd frowned. 

_Smart,_ he thought firmly as he stared at him intently from the other side of the classroom. _Smart, smart, smart, smart, wow, smart--_

  
  
  


______________

  
  


He was smiling the next day. 

It was hidden in his scarf but there was a light in his eyes and Lloyd felt lighter--excited. He bit back his own smile as he sat down in their shared class. He didn’t even notice how the words _evil_ and _liar_ appeared on his own face, too busy thinking _fluffy_ at him and his hair to notice.

  
  
  


__________

  
  
  


He saw another boy with the words _disappointment_ and _scary_ written across his arms and thought _strong_ and _amazing_ until the other words could no longer be seen. 

Lloyd may have been the most alienated outcast of the school, but he was hardly the only one. It was easy to see the people lingering in the corners, or the ones that had frowns or annoyed looks follow them, and he took it upon himself to change the words on every single person he could see, but especially those who were anything like him. 

_Weird_ and _creepy_ was replaced by: _interesting_ and _unique._

_Loud, Abrasive--Friendly, powerful._

_Delinquent, dumb--Capable, smart._

As the weeks passed, he barely felt any new words on his own skin, so absorbed in making good words appear on others that he hardly noticed his own. He hadn’t even realized he had been doing it to himself until he saw himself glaring back at himself through the mirror as he thought _good, good, good_ over and over again to outweigh the _evil_ on his forehead. 

It didn’t do anything to change his outward appearance but he felt his heart get lighter every time. 

He stared at himself in surprise and laughed a little. 

“Loved,” he said to reflection. 

His reflection smiled back. 

  
  


____________

  
  
  


Jay was the first to notice. 

He and Cole had been hanging out for a few weeks and he was starting to get pretty comfortable around his new friend. He was nice. A little scary at first, but really, really nice. 

They were sitting outside the school when something caught his eye on Cole’s hand. 

  
Words weren’t uncommon, but it was the familiarity that made him stop. 

“Cole,” he said, drawing his attention. 

The other boy gave him a questioning look. 

Jay reached over and grabbed his hand, placing it next to his own so they were side by side and the word _smart_ stared back at them from the backs of both their hands, the handwriting identical. 

Cole’s head snapped to look at him with wide eyes. “You get theirs too?” 

Jay gave a short disbelieving laugh, biting his lip. “Yeah. I-- who do you think it is?” 

“I dunno,” Cole said with a wry smile. “Guess it’s a mystery.” 

“I wish I knew,” Jay said, smiling a little as he looked at the word. “They deserve some good words too.” 

“I wonder how many people they get...” Cole said, mostly to himself. He turned to Jay with a grin. “We should go see if Zane gets any, maybe we can figure it out!” 

Cole grabbed his hand and pulled him to his feet and then they were both racing off to find Zane to ask about words. 

  
  
  
  
  


_____________

  
  
  
  
  


He spent a lot of lunch thinking up new words. 

He got lucky enough to watch Cole laugh at the _fan-flippin’-tastic_ that he’d put on his wrist. It was a tribute to the way he had been flipping a coin down the hall earlier that day and Lloyd grinned so wide his cheeks hurt when he showed it to Jay.

The two of them had become friends about a month ago, along with Kai, Nya and Zane. He was glad that the group had found each other, they all looked much happier now. 

He didn’t stop with his words though. Sure, there were more positive marks showing up on their skin than before, because of each other, but that wasn’t any reason for him to stop. Besides, he had gotten kind of attached to them all, even if they didn’t really know him. That kind of thing tended to happen when you were aggressively looking for everything good about a person. They were easy to care about, even from a distance. 

He watched Nya catch a glass that Kai had knocked off the table before it could hit the floor and huffed a small laugh as he thought ‘ _fast’_ at her. 

He rubbed at his mom’s word around his finger and let himself feel a little sad for a moment before focusing on Kai who was frowning at something on the back of his hand. 

  
  


______________

  
  
  


Kai felt a tingling on his inner wrist during lunch and glanced down in confusion to see the word _cool_ written there, much bolder and bigger than any of the others crowding the skin there. 

His head snapped up to try and find whoever had put it there like he’d been attempting for weeks now. He’d always just miss them, or not notice the tingling. He knew it was the same person doing it since he’d started to recognize their handwriting after so long. Then there was the whole ‘handwriting matching with the words on the rest of the friend group as well’ thing. 

His eyes caught green when they took a split second too long to look away and he stared at them. 

They were looking down at their table, hood shielding their face, shoulders tense like they’d just been caught, and--

Lloyd Garmadon? 

  
  


_______________

  
  


He wasn’t sure at first. 

Could’ve just been a coincidence that he had been looking in his direction right at that moment. 

Kai wasn’t sure…

At least not until he saw Lloyd stare intently at Jay and watched the words _smart, clever_ and _funny_ appear on his friend’s face; until he saw him glance at Nya and saw the words _advocate,_ and _strong_ appear on her skin; he watched him frown at Cole for a moment until the words _patient_ and _supportive_ appeared overtop of _scary_ and _self-centered_ ; the boy smiled at Zane as the words _cool_ and _nice_ appeared; and he felt Lloyd’s eyes on _him_ as the words _selfless_ and _amazing_ were pressed into his skin. 

He stared at him as Lloyd smiled a little sadly to himself, alone at his table in the cafeteria, tugging down his sleeves to cover the words _Garma-dork_ and _evil_ etched onto his wrists, looking tired but smiling as Jay showed Cole the new _brilliant_ written on his cheek. 

And Kai… 

His heart swelled in his chest, and he couldn’t breathe for a moment. Hot tears were blurring his vision, the overwhelming feeling of gratitude towards this kid who, despite every word on his own skin, spent hours drowning out the cruel words from Nya’s skin with _beautiful, strong_ and _inspiring_. 

He pressed his hand against his mouth and blinked back tears, heart rending in half in his chest. 

“Kai?” Nya asked, drawing his attention, a startled, worried look on her face. “What’s wrong?” 

He looked at her heart lodged in his throat, unable to say anything.

  
  
  
  


_______________

  
  
  
  


Lloyd’s hand came up to clutch his chest, eyes blowing wide at the pins and needles that swept over it. 

His head snapped down to look at himself, despite not being able to see anything due to his shirt and hoodie, feeling a little sick, knowing exactly what the feeling was. It had been a while since someone had actually hated him enough to cause that much of a feeling. 

He stood up from his table and fled from the cafeteria, heart pounding wildly in his chest. 

The halls were mostly empty as he ran down them and he slowed down at the bathroom door so as not to startle anyone when he entered, pushing it open, heart feeling numb. 

Anyone who was inside it left pretty quickly when they noticed him, exiting while leaning as far away from him as possible and he waited until the last person rushed out before he pulled down the collar of his shirt, eyes immediately landing on the edges of massive dark letters. 

His stomach dropped sickeningly and he frantically yanked his hoodie off before tearing his shirt off, feeling like he might cry. His eyes landed on the letters and he froze. 

He stared. 

Every other word seemed transparent compared to the dark ink of the massive word that stretched across his entire chest, darkest around his heart, like someone had looked at him and pushed every part of their soul towards him. 

_Kind_. 

He shakily reached up and traced the letters, not actually touching his skin. He only got halfway through the letter _i_ before he was pressing his hands against his mouth, body trembling, unsure if he was laughing or crying; maybe both. 

_Loved._

_Kind_. 

Lloyd sobbed.

  
  
  


____________

  
  
  
  


The word lasted through the weekend and into next week, showing absolutely no signs of fading.

His fingers trembled a little every time he remembered it was there; that someone had thought that about him, so genuinely that not even the usual hateful words could disrupt it or make it fade out in the slightest. 

He pressed his hand against his shirt over his heart as he thought _good, observant, skilled_ towards Cole, wondering who… who had thought that about him--that he was kind. 

He breathed, hand fisting in the fabric of his shirt. His heart lodged in his throat and he had to pull down his hood and hide his face in his arms to conceal his breathless grin. 

_Kind._

  
  
  


__________

  
  
  


Kai felt a little guilty when he saw really dark letters peeking out from Lloyd’s shirt collar. 

His words were usually pretty dark and long-lasting due to his whole ‘caring too much’ thing. Nya was littered in especially prominent words that took a really long time to fade. He hadn’t meant to get Lloyd stuck with one. 

He sighed and let his head rest on his desk with a dull _thud_. 

“What?” Nya asked, sounding amused. 

“Nothing,” Kai said.

  
  


____________

  
  
  


“It’s Lloyd.” 

“What?” 

  
  
  
  


___________

  
  
  
  
  


_Thoughtful._

_Observant._

_Clever._

_Funny._

Lloyd spent hours sitting cross legged on his bed, tracing the words. 

For the first time that he could remember, the _evil_ across his forehead was replaced by an aggressively dark _good_. 

“I don’t know who it is,” he confessed to his mom, face buried in her shoulder as she hugged him tightly after he got home from school that day. “I don’t--” 

“You’re amazing, Lloyd,” she told him. “I told you people would see that.” 

“I’m not doing anything,” he whispered. “Why would they--?” 

“You don’t need to be doing anything besides being yourself.” 

He squeezed his eyes shut, trembling in her arms. 

“I love you,” she said, like he might forget it. 

He hugged her tighter. “I love you too, mom.” 

  
  


________________

  
  
  


He was sitting on a bench outside waiting for his bus when someone slipped into the seat next to him. 

He glanced at them in surprise only to see _Jay_ , looking a little nervous. Jay usually didn’t like talking to new people because of his anxiety. What possibly could have possessed him to talk to the son of Lord Garmadon of all people? 

“Hey,” Jay said, chewing on his lip. 

“Hi,” Lloyd said back, blinking. 

Jay held out his hand, palm up towards him. “This is you, right?” 

Lloyd glanced down in confusion, heart skipping a beat when his eyes landed on the familiar word _creative_ that he’d thought at Jay earlier that day. 

His head snapped up to look at Jay with wide eyes, shoulders tensing. “I uh…” he opened and closed his mouth soundlessly, words failing him completely, eyes darting to the side, feeling very much like he’d like to bolt for some reason. 

Jay laughed a little, smiling at him. 

_Smiling at him_. 

Lloyd gaped at him. 

He looked down at his lap, the smile still on his face, biting his lip again. “Thank you,” he said softly. 

“Huh?” Lloyd said eloquently. 

Jay didn’t seem phased, he just looked up to offer him another smile. “Thank you,” he repeated, and Lloyd wasn’t any less confused. 

“You’re a good person, Lloyd,” Jay told him. 

Lloyd felt the _good_ on his forehead tingle, and he stared at him. 

“I was having a really bad day when you first did it,” he said quietly, like a confession, looking down at his hands as he fiddled with his fingers. “You helped me a lot, so…” he looked up at him again with a soft smile. “Thanks.” 

Lloyd just gaped at him, absolutely nothing in his brain functioning well enough to give any sort of answer. 

Luckily he was saved from attempting. 

“Hey, Jay,” Cole said, making them both look up at him. He grinned at Jay then looked at Lloyd and his smile softened. “Hi, Lloyd.” 

“Hi,” Lloyd croaked. 

There was a pause in which they just looked at each other. 

“Thanks,” Cole finally said, not looking away, a sincerity in his eyes that made Lloyd’s face heat up and his thoughts scrabble for purchase. 

“Hel _loooo_ ,” a voice that Lloyd recognized as Nya’s, called. He looked over to see her standing on the curb next to a car. “You two coming? The Smith wagon is leaving the station, if you’re not on it, you gotta find your own ride.” 

Cole glanced at her as Jay stood up, leaving Lloyd on the bench by himself. “Yeah, on our way.” He looked back at Lloyd pinning him in his gaze. He hesitated for a moment before asking: “You wanna come with?” 

“Huh?” Lloyd said. 

“Oh, yeah!” Jay exclaimed. “That’s a good idea.” He smiled at him, looking excited. “We could use another player.” 

Lloyd stared at them. 

“Last call guys!” Nya yelled. 

“Is Lloyd coming?” Kai yelled as well. Lloyd hadn’t even realized he was in the car until he popped out of the window, hanging over the side and waved. 

“I dunno, hang on a sec!” Cole called back. He looked at him with a small reassuring smile. “It’s just video games and snacks.” 

Nya honked the horn, and Lloyd watched Kai shout at her, wrestling the steering wheel out of her grip and pushing her back to the passengers seat. “ _You’re too young to drive!_ ” came the muffled yell. 

He glanced back up at Cole and Jay. 

“Okay." 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> WELP THERE YA GO. Wrote this today and was just gonna leave it in my drafts, but figured I might as well share laskdfmsadf Might write another chapter for this in the future, the ending seemed a little abrupt but *shrugs* Gots to be MOVING ON BRUH
> 
> Drop a comment if ya feel like you liked this, keysmashes and thoughts fuel me 
> 
> THANKS FOR READING

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Chasing Sunlight](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27552421) by [Shizuku749](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shizuku749/pseuds/Shizuku749)




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